EXCERPTS FROM WORK IN PROGRESS

Photo Credit: Cucsa.org.uk

EXCERPT 1
“…The university could strip you of your personality and impose on you a new one. It could tamper with your values, just as much as it could consolidate them. Tomi had a personality before he became an undergraduate. He had values, too. Three years into his studentship at University of Ibadan, he could not tell whether or not his personality and values had been redefined, not because he hadn’t undergone changes, but because he had forgotten who he used to be…”

EXCERPT 2
“…Tomi was not a habitual liar, but he had observed that he often needed to say one or two untruths around ladies. When one of his erstwhile girlfriends did a disgusting hairstyle months ago and asked for his thoughts, even though he felt like puking at the sight, he lied that he’d never seen such a beautiful hairdo in his entire life. He even offered to reimburse the girlfriend for it, an offer he would later beat himself over when she accepted it. The amazing thing about these lies was that they were spontaneous. He reeled them out without any premeditation, and they somehow managed to sound perfect. Who could imagine that he fabricated such a flawless lie in a bid to get Sarah’s phone number just now? Tomi knew it was for reasons like this that he would not make heaven. Well, the good thing was that there was no heaven in the first place, or so he had come to believe…”

FINAL EXCERPT
“…Sarah was almost a common lady. She did not have the drop-dead beauty that could arrest eyes. She did not have the kind of bossom that called for a second look. Her backside did not seem like something that would put a man in trouble. She was mildly dark and average in height. Still, one thing stood out about her. It was her eyes. White like the albumen of a boiled egg, her eyes, when they stared at you with that inimitable tenderness, pulled down the walls of hostility, drew you in and held you down. When she exchanged pleasantries, it was never out of perfunctoriness, for she complemented her greetings with radiant smiles, the type that would make you go home and dream of flowers and stars…”

Watch out for the full story titled ‘In the Words of His Father’ in an anthology to be published soon by Association of Nigerian Authors.

Have a great week ahead!

~~~Omoya Yinka Simult

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